Gardens Guide launched for National Gardening Week - Harrogate

Tourism agency Visit Harrogate launches its annual Gardens Guide to celebrate National Gardening Week (30 April – 6 May)

It launches the guide at Harrogate Spring Flower Show (26-29 April) – the biggest exhibition of flower arranging and floristry in Britain which dates back to 1934 and attracts up to 40,000 people each year as a major event in the national gardening calendar.

The town features RHS Harlow Carr Gardens, featuring 58 acres of stunning gardens, its famous 17-acre English Heritage Grade II listed Valley Gardens with its recently completed Japanese Garden, and a 220-acre Stray protected by Royal decree.

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The Stray has had seven million crocus planted for an eye-popping floral treat in spring, alongside its famed avenue of blossom trees, officially the most photographed spot in Harrogate.

Harrogate has entered regional, national and international in Bloom awards since they began over 40 years ago and are multi-gold award winners. It picked up the coveted gold award in the elite Champion of Champions category of the RHS Britain in Bloom competition for 2017. The town has twice won Europe in Bloom.

Alongside the spa town, the Harrogate district includes Ripon, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Masham and Pateley Bridge. The Gardens Guide 2018 features amongst others, Fountain’s Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden Beningbrough Hall and Gardens, Newby Hall, RHS Harlow Carr and The Stray, with event highlights and the National Garden Scheme (NGS) Open Gardens dates across the district, alongside tips for gardeners.

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Newby Hall Gardens is one of the North’s most important 20th century gardens. It boasts one of the longest double herbaceous borders in the country. The 172-metre-long border with 6,500 plants is set to hit full maturity in 2018. The border has been a highlight of Newby’s 25-acre gardens since the 1920s.

Harrogate is known as the Gateway to the Dales.

The Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty also falls in its district. The AONB is designated as one of the UK’s protected landscapes with moorlands and flower-rich grassland. It’s also home to historic gardens, including the Himalayan Garden, a botanical masterpiece featuring natural springs and lakes, and the ancient Fishpond Wood, a once extensive network of pleasure gardens landscaped in the 18th century, in 1885 around 3,000 people came by special trains to visit the pleasure gardens.

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For more information visit: https://www.visitharrogate.co.uk/

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.